SilkAir will increase network capacity by 14% for its summer season that runs from March 27 to Oct. 29. Frequencies to Phuket will increase from 14 to 21 per week while flights to Davao will jump from four weekly to daily. Flights to Kochi will climb from four to five weekly and to Manado from three to four weekly. From July 1, SilkAir will add another weekly flight to Yangon for a total of 11 and its twice-weekly services to Padang will resume from May 3. In total, the airline will operate 127 weekly flights to 25 regional destinations this summer.
Although it was another tough year as Virgin Express faced more competition from full-service low-fare charter operators, the airline reduced its net loss to €7.3 million ($9.5 million) in 2004 from €19.6 million in the previous year. Operating loss narrowed to €3.9 million from €16.1 million in 2003. Total revenue fell 13% to €179.8 million, mainly owing to a reduction in the carrier's fleet from 13 to 11. "A further reduction is planned for 2005," Executive Chairman David Hoare said.
Centralwings, the low-cost subsidiary of LOT Polish Airlines, will start a thrice-weekly service to Cologne/Bonn from Katowice today. During the summer, the carrier will offer direct flights from Katowice to Hanover and Cologne/Bonn and from Warsaw to Nuremberg, Hanover, London Gatwick, Prague, Lisbon, Bologna, Barcelona Girona, Rome Ciampino and Catania. From Krakow, routes will include London Gatwick and Ciampino.
SkyEurope completed a €10 million ($13 million) equity fund-raising, the proceeds of which will be used for fleet development. The investment was provided by funds managed by East Capital Asset Management AB, an independent asset manager specializing in Eastern European financial markets. Last year the airline laid out a target of achieving €50 million in new funding.
The European Commission dropped an antitrust probe against the leading providers of airline insurance in Europe after the firms agreed to reform their practices to ensure more competition and transparency.
Qatar Airways will increase its flights between Doha and Frankfurt from six a week to daily in the summer season, which begins March 27. The flights will be operated using A300s in a three-class configuration. In addition, the Doha-Munich-Vienna route, currently operated five times per week, will be de-linked and replaced by dedicated nonstop services to both cities. Munich will be served fives times per week with an A300 in a three-class configuration, while Vienna will have four flights a week using an A319 in a two-class configuration.
FAA finalized its previously announced proposal to extend the voluntary schedule caps at Chicago O'Hare through Oct. 29 and also proposed to extend the rule, which limits arrivals at ORD to 88 per hour between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. local time, through April 2008, "when additional airport capacity should be realized." Under the proposed rule, FAA will review the restrictions every six months.
Strike by JAT mechanics entered its eighth day Thursday with no sign of a resolution ( ATWOnline, March 21). According to media reports in Serbia, the government used police to remove 400 striking mechanics from an aircraft hangar. This is the third strike at JAT over the past six months as the carrier has tried to reduce its workforce and salaries amid union allegations of corporate mismanagement. The fleet is grounded and management is trying to lease aircraft to operate flights.
Citing "a growing trend towards the outsourcing of maintenance," Airbus yesterday unveiled a Maintenance Repair & Overhaul Network consisting of 11 service providers around the world.
IAE and SilkAir signed a 10-year fleet hour agreement covering maintenance and repairs on V2500 engines that power SilkAir's fleet of seven A320s and four A319s.
Thales announced that LFV Group has deployed its new air traffic management system, Eurocat, at the Stockholm and Malmo control centers and has connected 13 control towers to the centers. The new System 2000 is part of the LFV Group MATS program and will equip Sweden with a state-of-the-art en route and approach ATM system to improve operational efficiency and safety. It includes a fully integrated training system with standby capabilities that allows "real situation" testing.
UAL Corp., reported that its February loss widened to $291 million from $259 million in February 2004, but the parent of United Airlines said it met the monthly requirements of its debtor-in-possession financing. In its Monthly Operating Report filed with the US Bankruptcy Court, UAL said the current-period loss was net of $92 million of largely noncash reorganization expenses. This compares to $119 million in reorganization expenses last year (UAL did not provide a comparison with the prior year but ATWOnline previously reported its February 2004 MOR).
L-3 Communications Security & Detection Systems named VP and CFO William Frain to the position of senior VP following Allen Barber's promotion to president. James Cataldo joined L-3 as CFO. Steven Williams was appointed MD for Europe, Middle East and Africa based in L-3's UK office. Jay Payne was hired as VP-cargo; he previously was with Science Applications International Corp. Robert Fleck was appointed VP-customer service.
CSA Czech Airlines will add five weekly flights from Prague to Sarajevo at the end of March. It will start service to Minsk (four flights a week) and Skopje (three weekly flights) in May. In addition to the new destinations, it plans to increase frequencies to 30 others significantly. In the summer, CSA will offer seven direct connections a week from Prague to Montreal and Toronto. By June, a first A321 will operate charter flights. CSA transported more than 586,000 passengers in the first two months of 2005, up 17.6% over the year-ago period.
Northwest Airlines continues to turn up the pressure on struggling Midwest Airlines with seven new services from the latter's Milwaukee base including two flights to Denver and additional flights to Boston, Detroit, Kansas City and New York. With these services, NWA will offer up to 38 daily flights to 13 nonstop destinations by mid-year. Under its new schedule, on June 9 it will begin twice-daily service from MKE to Denver, increase daily flights to Boston from two to three and add another flight to Detroit.
China Eastern Airlines Jiangsu Ltd. yesterday placed an order with Embraer Harbin for five ERJ-145s, marking the second order the company has secured with a Chinese airline. "We are very pleased to welcome the ERJ-145 to our fleet," China Eastern President and CEO Su Guoxin said. "It is a very attractive aircraft that will fit in very well with our existing fleet and route structure."
Air France and KLM will merge their respective frequent-flier programs into one new program, Flying Blue, in June. Frequence Plus and Flying Dutchman cardholders automatically will become members of the new program and will retain all the miles they have accrued without any drop in value. The new FFP contains four membership levels--Ivory, Silver, Gold and Platinum--and has some 10 million members in a first stage. Together with more than 30 partner airlines, Flying Blue will enable customers to earn miles and use them on 18,000 daily flights to 900 destinations.
Magic Software Enterprises announced that TAP Servicos Portugueses de Handling has implemented its Hermes cargo handling system in a deal valued at $1.4 million over a four-year period.
ARINC's MUSE Link network service was selected by China Eastern Airlines to connect the carrier's host computer system in Shanghai with its passenger operations at a dozen international airports. According to ARINC, the airline expects to save as much as 15 million yuan ($1.9 million) in operating costs each year by leveraging its existing infrastructure in combination with the AviNet MUSE Link connection.
British Airways said it will "strengthen its position as Britain's leading short-haul airline" and is adding 13 new European services to its summer schedule. This will lift total daily BA flights between Britain and the continent to an average of 631, "well in excess of any other operator," the carrier said in a statement, noting that according to published website timetables, Ryanair operates about 300 flights a day on the routes and easyJet 410. In addition, BA will schedule an average of 372 daily flights within the UK and across the Irish Sea covering 60 routes.
Sabre Airline Solutions announced that Aeroflot has migrated to the SabreSonic new-generation reservations and passenger management solution along with a customized version of the Sabre distribution system for Aeroflot affiliated travel agents.
Finnair President and CEO Keijo Suila announced his retirement effective at the end of 2005. A search for a successor has begun. Suila has been with the carrier since 1998. Separately, the Assn. of Support Service Industries representing Finnair and the Assn. of Finnish Flight Attendants reached an agreement on the attendants' terms of employment. Thus a strike scheduled to start on Easter Saturday has been avoided and the carrier's flights will continue to operate normally.
The tax burden on US airlines and passengers continues to rise, but not to the level regularly cited by airlines themselves as well as industry trade groups, according to the Ticket Tax Project, a joint effort of MIT's Global Airline Industry Program and Daniel Webster College.
A day after announcing the takeover of Swiss International Air Lines ( ATWOnline, March 23), Lufthansa Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber declared that Lufthansa Group is "leaner and stronger" as he confirmed final results showing it earned €404 million ($524.3 million) last year, reversing a loss of €984 million in 2003. Operating result was €383 million compared to €36 million in the prior year. Commenting on the outlook for 2005, "taking into account the integration of Swiss," the company expects an operating result on par with 2004.
